After the euphoria of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, the Goldsmiths Choral Union maintained its usual level of concert-giving in major London concert halls. These venues were soon to include the Barbican Hall, in the Barbican Centre, opened in 1982. But from the mid-1980s funding became seriously constrained and new sources of financial support had to be found as the public purse-strings were tightened. Fund-raising events such as workshops and Summer Sings and collaborations with charities helped to keep the choir financially solvent, while a move to a somewhat smaller-scale repertoire in the 1990s allowed it to husband its resources without compromising its artistic standards. Its success in staging concerts without full-scale orchestral accompaniment in such venues as St James's Church, Piccadilly, and St John's, Waterloo, proves how well the choir adapted to the new cultural climate in Britain.

Following the choir's 50th anniversary celebrations, the summer of 1982 saw a repeat performance of Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts, this time at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall (RAH). During the spring of 1983 the choir staged a performance of Beethoven's magnificent Missa Solemnis in the Royal Festival Hall (RFH) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The autumn of 1983 saw a major change of both rehearsal day and venue from Tuesday evenings at St Michael's School, Graham Terrace, near Sloane Square to Wednesdays at Baden Powell House in South Kensington, where we still rehearse today. After 25 years at St Michael's, the change was a terrific wrench. We lost a few members for whom Wednesday evenings were already committed, but we also gained others in compensation.

In March 1984 a special performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius was given with the orchestra of the National Centre for Orchestral Studies (NCOS). This was at the London Oratory, Brompton, to celebrate the centenary of its founding by Cardinal Newman, the author of the poem set by Elgar in the Dream. Moreover, it was the church where Elgar had been married in 1889.

It was good to team up with the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in a performance of Brahms's A German Requiem at Guildford Cathedral in March 1985. Two weeks later saw both choirs together again at the RFH performing Verdi's Requiem.

The summer break of 1985 saw the introduction of Summer Sings. These were something more than workshops: the GCU invited any singers to join it for three social evenings (reduced to two from 1991) singing a major choral work (or works) under Brian Wright's baton, with wine afterwards. These proved so successful that they have been an annual event ever since and can attract over 200 singers on any one evening.

Our association with Guildford continued the next year, both at the cathedral and at St David's Hall in Cardiff. The late Sir Charles Groves conducted Tippett's A Child of our Time and Beethoven's Symphony No 1 at both concerts.

In June 1987 at the RFH, the GCU performed Mozart's last three works: Davidde Penitente, Ave Verum and the Requiem. Less than a month after the Great Storm struck southern England on 16 October that year, the GCU, perhaps appropriately, gave the first performance of Weathers, a setting of four Thomas Hardy poems composed by Peter Skellern. Peter confesses in the programme that he has written very little serious music. Christmas 1987 saw the last carol concert on behalf of The Save the Children Fund at the RAH. The choir's association with this charity had spanned 10 years.

The GCU returned to Guildford again in March 1988 to perform Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts. But perhaps the highlight of the year was a performance of Tippett's last great choral work The Mask of Time at the RFH in June. The Mask had had its debut in Boston only four years previously, in 1984. The work was a real choral challenge, expansive not only in the breadth and archiectural structure of the music's conception, but also in the size of the vocal scores: the piece came in two weighty volumes! Sir Michael himself attended a rehearsal and gave a pre-concert talk on the day of the performance.

A one-off visit to the Snape Maltings to give a carol concert took place on 18 December. This departure from the normal seemed fitting for a choir who had undergone some major changes in barely half a dozen years. But more changes were on the way.